~ A site for my creative writing endeavors, writing prompt responses, and experimentation.

We Are All Activists

Sixteen year old climate activist Greta Thunberg has in one year gone from a solo protest to the impetus behind four million people demonstrating across the globe. At times like these I wonder if I have done enough, and yet I realize that, in our own ways, we are all activists.

Thunberg isn’t alone in her struggle to save the future. Other young climate activists have also been leading the call. People like seventeen year old Helena Gualinga from the Ecuadorian Amazon, Bertine Lakjohn of the Marshall Islands, and many others. Parkland survivors Emma González, David Hogg, and their school mates have spoken up against gun violence. Jazz Jennings speaks about transgender and LGBTQ rights. Malala Yousafzai is synonymous with the fight for female education in Pakistan. There are more.

All this youth activism reminds me that we all have a responsibility to speak up. Despite my fervent denial of creeping gray hairs, I must admit I no longer qualify to be a young activist. Nor was I particularly active when I was young (except for those “Letters to the Editor” that resulted in my undergraduate school newspaper being temporarily shut down and retooled).

But no matter what our age, we are all activists. If we speak out against dishonesty and corruption, we are activists; if we do not speak out against dishonesty and corruption, we are allowing it to continue. Inaction has as much, and often more, effect as action. Complacency is taking a stand for the status quo, especially when that status quo is hurting our fellow Americans and the world.

It goes without saying that not all of us can be world leaders, but we can be leaders within our individual worlds. Our influence might not span Greta’s global reach, but we can influence our families, our friends, our churches, our schools, our clubs, our bar buddies, or even our blog readers. The key is to speak up.

Martin Luther King, Jr. reminded us that: In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.

Thurgood Marshall noted our obligation to speak up: Where you see wrong or inequality or injustice, speak out, because this is your country. This is your democracy. Make it. Protect it. Pass it on.

And if you think you don’t have the power to create change, listen to Pulitzer Prize winning author of The Color Purple, Alice Walker:

The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don’t have any.

We are all activists.

We don’t need to be active in every contentious matter. Each of us can pick an issue or two that we feel particularly strongly about or have potential influence on. As a scientist I’m interested in helping people understand – and demand action on – climate change and other environmental and health issues. As a Lincoln historian I’m active in bringing a greater understanding of Lincoln and his times to the public, and helping all of us apply lessons from Lincoln to today’s society. As an honest American, I speak out against injustice and corruption while promoting the integration of integrity into politics. Our current political turmoil demands activism on all three areas.

Perhaps your issue is LGBTQ rights. Or health care. Or gun violence. Or racism. Or any number of important issues were taking a stand can determine whether we can keep our Republic. Whatever it is, it is critical to take that stand. Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel said: We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. That includes whether that victim is an individual, a demographic, our planet, or our Constitution. Lest you think you cannot be a victim, remember the words of Martin Niemöller:

First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a socialist.

Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out— because I was not a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew.

While I have no problem with people speaking their minds, I’m less inclined to be tilted by emotion than by substance… Ms. Thunberg being a good example. I’m just not someone easily moved by drama as opposed to facts, and facts tend to require a generally more nuanced or complex interpretation. I also worry that encouraging people to land themselves firmly and morally on a particular ground can also legitimize setting barriers against reasoned exceptions or even argument to the contrary, and that can work against one’s own perspective.

Dishonesty and corruption are also universal problems, not confined to certain groups nor precluded by scientific principles. And the point at which self-evident intuitions become ethical arguments can be like the event-horizon of a black hole, a point-of-no-return from imminent self-destruction, and yet passed unnoticed. So while I may agree with a general principle, I always reserve my right to blasphemy.

Thunberg’s message is simply, “Listen to the scientists.” The science has been documented and is unequivocal. Politicians are ignoring it for convenience because it conflicts with their ideology and/or sources of campaign funds. Honest people debate possible policy solutions to deal with the science, not spend their time denying the existence of that science. Hence the real problem: We can’t debate the possible solutions because one side refuses to even acknowledge reality, never mind offer their views on how to deal with that reality.

This all reminds me of my post, “Learned Helplessness,” which I wrote after walking with some local friends in the 2017 “March for Science”. It seemed such an odd juxtaposition — to travel between a sensationalized appeal to something that, to be perfectly honest, most of the marchers really didn’t really understand… and then to meet with a bunch of Japanese immigrants who were busying themselves with the practicalities of implementation. The science is all the same. It’s only the social approaches that vary. Personally, I think Americans (and others) simply need to be better educated. The alternative is to shelter ourselves in whatever personally enlightened opinions bring us the most immediate comfort.

Likewise, humanity’s fundamental environmental issues stem from the practical matter of overpopulation. Everything else becomes an at best Band-Aid solution… unless we all agree to live at some lowest common-denominator until nature solves the problem for us. Again… The science is all the same. The social approach is what varies.

Politicians ignore a lot of things; but so do people in general. Mostly, we do so by hiding behind whatever dramatic narrative best defends our personally most convenient world-views. Nature doesn’t care in the least. And since science (reliable science, anyway) emerges from nature, I’m inclined to avoid the drama.

I can’t disagree that practicalities of implementation are an issue; in fact, that’s basically what I’ve been saying. On whether Americans need to be better educated, certainly that’s true. On the other hand, the real problems are 1) intentional disinformation, and 2) willful ignorance. Studies have shown that giving more information doesn’t help people make better decisions, it just makes them dig deeper into defensiveness. So we have a populace that wants to be lied to, and a political leadership that is happy to do the lying.

I would agree on avoiding the drama, except that’s why we have the drama in the first place. Because people with power and knowledge who may not feel the effects don’t act.